An observer told Deane Mellor, just before his first game as head coach of the La Jolla Country Day School boys lacrosse team, that, with his long locks, he looked “like the Mets pitcher.”
\n“(Noah) Syndergaard?” Mellor replied.\t“I was thinking Jacob deGrom,” countered the bystander.
\n“We Philly guys don\u2019t like the Mets either way,” smiled the Torreys coach, as he walked across the baseball outfield at the private school, getting ready for the late-start season opener.
\nMellor, who was weaned on Philly cheesesteak and Phillies baseball, told how growing up in Kobe Bryant territory was different than Junior Seau land: “After the game, we didn\u2019t go surfing,” he smiled. “Here you get picked up and go surfing.
\nAnother difference, he said, was that back in the day, club sports didn\u2019t proliferate the way they do now, all across the land. “You played only in the season,” he recalled. “These guys (his Torrey players) play club. Then (in the school season) they play their first game together (as LJCDS).”
\nSenior midfielder David Brewster scored the Torreys\u2019 first goal of the season in the first quarter against La Jolla. He\u2019s counted on to provide major leadership on attack. “We\u2019ve got a lot of seniors this year,” said the personable 18-year-old, “a lot of guys who have been playing together since middle school. We have many returning starters.”
\nAs for what he brings to Mellor\u2019s team, Brewster made a fair assessment: “I\u2019m not going to have the most goals, but any dodges I have (driving with the ball, then dishing) help the offense.”
\nA four-year starter, the senior, whose father and mother are Dennis and Helen, said, “My goals dropped last year in half (as a junior, from his sophomore year), but that was because I didn\u2019t have to score as much.” His older brother, Jonathan, 23, was an LJCDS grad in the Class of 2012, and USC in 2016.
\nFavorites on the culinary spread for the “middie” include Asian and Mexican food. “I\u2019d probably have to go with a shrimp dumpling ramen,” Brewster said. For dessert, red velvet cake.
\n“\u2018DBrew\u2019 (a nickname) is our vocal leader and he\u2019s one of many catalysts to our offense,” said Mellor. “He\u2019s the outgoing guy that the other guys rally around, and his upbeat personality.”
\nCountry Day will also be helped on attack and at midfield by the leadership of two other senior captains, Tate Kennedy and Alex Mow. “Tate, he\u2019s our distributor behind the cage,” said Mellor, of the 18-year-old Kennedy. “He\u2019s a shifty little guy. He\u2019s a calming presence in the locker room, and quick on the attack. He has some good shake-and-bake (moves).”Regarding Mow, also 18, Mellor says, “He\u2019s our faceoff guy. We start and go with him in the faceoff \u2018X\u2019” (as it is called in lacrosse). (Alex) is a leader by example. He\u2019s a quiet guy who leads that way.”
\n“We have a good mix of seniors and youth on this team,” said the new head coach, in his fifth year on the staff at LJCDS, an outgoing, friendly presence himself to visitors and newcomers. “It\u2019s a good blend. We\u2019ll lean on these seniors. We\u2019ll go as far as they take us.”
\nBesides the leaders on attack and at midfield, the Torreys will also look to leadership on defense, with Will Pollack, Dean Ladrido, and Alex Aganhia. “Pollack is the anchor to our defense,” said Mellor of the 18-year-old senior. “We\u2019re going to lean on him for our defensive skills.
\n“He\u2019s a blue collar guy, a leader by example.”
\nAbout Ladrido, 17, a junior, Mellor said, “He\u2019s a skillful player aspiring to play college lacrosse, so we lean on him. He\u2019s a long-stick middie (a long stick measures over six feet in length, a short stick 38 to 40 inches). He\u2019s a vocal leader who\u2019s outgoing and fun-loving. He loves the joy of sports.”
\nAganhia, an 18-year-old senior, is “another goofy, fun-loving kid who lightens things for his teammates, and the team responds to that kind of leadership.”
\nAs far as what he is trying to accomplish with his players through his coaching, Mellor commented, “Our mission is to make good boys better. We\u2019re fortunate to have good families in this program. We have good kids. We want to make strong, independent young men.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An observer told Deane Mellor, just before his first game as head coach of the La Jolla Country Day School boys lacrosse team, that, with his long locks, he looked “like the Mets pitcher.” “(Noah) Syndergaard?” Mellor replied. “I was thinking Jacob deGrom,” countered the bystander. “We Philly guys don\u2019t like the Mets either way,” […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":270604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"LJ Country Day School boys lacrosse are optimistic as ever","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}